5.  The applicants were born in 1925, 1950, 1954, 1960, 1961, 1966 and 1968 respectively and live in the village of Troitskaya, the Republic of Ingushetiya.
6.  The first applicant is the mother of the other six applicants and of Isa Kushtov. All are practising Muslims.
7.  On 10 July 2006 the Federal Security Service of Russia (the FSB) carried out a military operation in the village of Ekazhevo in the Nazran District of the Ingushetia Republic. On the same date the FSB Director reported to the President of Russia that as a result of an explosion a group of “guerrilla fighters”, including their leader Shamil Basayev, had been “eliminated”.
8.  The operation received wide media coverage and, according to further statements of FSB officials, Isa Kushtov, the applicants’ relative, was among the deceased persons.
9.  On 11 July 2006 the second, fourth, fifth and sixth applicants went to the Nazran morgue. All of them identified one of the bodies as their brother’s, Isa Kushtov’s. On the same date the first applicant requested the return of the body of her son for a burial in accordance with the traditions and customs of her people.
10.  On 11 July 2006 the Office of the Prosecutor General opened a criminal investigation into the explosion of 10 July 2006 on counts of terrorism and unlawful possession of weapons. Sixteen expert reports had been commissioned in respect of four bodies and physical evidence collected at the scene of actions.
11.  On 16 July 2006 a group of armed masked men in camouflage uniforms headed by prosecutor Sh. came to the first applicant’s house and ordered her to give a blood sample for the identification of her son, Isa Kushtov. The first applicant complied with the order on the next day.
12.  On 25 August 2006 the Prosecutor General’s Office rejected the first applicant’s request to return the body of her son on the ground that persons killed in the explosion of 10 July 2006 had not been identified.
13.  The Government confirmed that Isa Kushtov died as a result of a counter-terrorist operation aimed at tracking down and eliminating Shamil Basayev.
14.  They also submitted that the investigation in respect of Isa Kushtov’s activities was discontinued on 10 October 2006 due to his death. It has revealed Isa Kushtov’s participation in the activities of Shamil Basayev and his death on 10 July 2006 whilst handling the explosives during the preparation of the next terrorist attack. Isa Kushtov’s remains were identified through molecular genetic expert examination. The decision of 10 October 2006 also referred to an expert report which had reached the conclusion that Isa Kushtov had died between 9 and 10 July 2006 as a result of an explosion trauma.
15.  On 11 October 2006 an investigator of the prosecutor’s office decided to bury the people who died in the explosion of 10 July 2006, including Isa Kushtov, in an undisclosed location pursuant to part 3 of Decree no. 164, ‘On interment of persons whose death was caused by the interception of terrorist acts carried out by them’ and the Federal Interment and Burial Act (Law no. 8-FZ).
16.  The applicants were notified about this decision, but did not receive its copy.
17.  The first applicant challenged the prosecutor’s refusal to return the body of her son. On 12 October 2006 the Nazran District Court of the Ingushetia Republic dismissed the action without addressing the applicant’s arguments. It upheld the decision not to return the body of the applicant’s son for burial without reviewing its merits. On 21 November 2006 the Supreme Court of the Ingushetia Republic upheld that judgment, again without reviewing the merits of the decision of 25 August 2006.
18.  Between 2006 and 2009 she unsuccessfully tried to bring other court proceedings with a view to challenging the decision of 11 October 2006. These proceedings were either disallowed or dismissed without review of the merits of that decision.